Enjoying our children............

How many of us have encountered a competitive parents ?
How many of us have received disapproval look from strangers over our parenting skills in public?

If you haven't encounter any of these , you are one lucky parent! :)

Since my first born was born, I got so many wanted and unwanted advices from people whether I want it or not.

Since the baby was born, people are expecting a lot from the baby. They have set in their mind that at certain age , they must crawl, sit, walk, talk, read, write, making crafts, have a good grade at school.

I am not a pushy mom I guess. I think my parenting style is more relax ? uhm ...I mean I don't
really "worry" by those time line guide. And I know there is no perfect timing or right timing for each kids to DO exactly what or when the other baby do..
As long as they are in the right track and we DO encouraging them to learn, explore, and BE A KID for the time being....I am fine with that...

My first DD is not a early reader. Not by the age of 3 0r 4. She is still learning now. And I believe in her that she will read soon. She is more crafty , chatty, and a performer type( sing and dance) rather than the sit and learn and read and write type.
I DO read for her and she loves book.
But AM I A FAILURE as a MOM , if she still can read and write properly by the age of 5?

Now a days, there are many children products, promising a genius kids, smarter kids, super kids, and they marketing/selling strategy is too play with parent's confident and insecurity.
Like buy this formula, so your children brain will be smarter, buy this books so you kids can read and count early, enroll your toddler to computer lesson so they will be prepare for the future.
These are all a good program I believe , but it is depend on what we want and expect from our children.

I love to see kids playing and learning at the same time. I believe that learning can be achieve from our daily activities. Like: when they bang a pot, or throwing plate from highchair, they are learning cause and effect. And when they learn to go up a single step , they are practicing their gross motor skills, and when they pick those biscuit's crumbs with their tiny fingers, they are practicing their fine motor skill, when they try to pop a bubble they are learning their hands and eyes coordination.

So will i introduce Maya ABC, 123? I will, but I will not force her or expect her to read anytime soon.:-)
why is the rush anyway?

And now I keep Indy away from any video/computer games. I am not sure if I still keep her away from that next year , when she will find it out from her friends.
I want her to spend her free time with games, blocks, drawing, cutting paper, play Lego, rather than sit and watch TV all the time ( she loves TV now, but I m really trying to cut her time in front of the tube as much as I can)
Because this days, the only activities most kids to is watch TV and play game in the computer.
I do have plenty of toys for my girls, and I stay away from electronic toys as much as I can :).
I want to teach them to play Malay/indon traditional game of "Congklak", and "jumping rubber ropes " ( my childhood fame game).But some electronic educational toys ( like leap pads) are interesting too.

Indy loves this Wooden Tetris by www.kidzpuzzle.com

And the wooden maze "dress up doll"

And this lacing board is good for fine motor skills too:

I also got a wooden puzzle for Maya. And I will got some small puzzle to for her soon.

And I also got some others items from www.r2learntoys.com ( S'pore based)
This is to learn to screw and unscrew ( For Maya to use later on )
And I think this is very cool! An egg that can hatch into toy animals ( Indy choose Chicken and duck, because the frog, lizard and dinosaur freak her out! LOL)

Egg Growing Pets are the coolest new way to hatch yourself a new friend. Watch as your little egg hatches into your favourite creature! In a day your egg will crack open and slowly your baby creature will hatch it's way out of the egg!

These pets are not living creatures, but are highly amusing and a little creepy. Your Growing pet is always a surprise! You must wait until it hatches to find out exactly what species you have. Amaze your children with this educational and fun experiment.

So if other moms will judge me , that I buy too much toys, I think this is just my parenting style. And if they said that Indy still can't read or write properly is a sad situation compare to their children , who can read before they enter kindergarten, I will just smile, praise their kids and thanks them for their concern.

I do believe learning through playing. And I believe that there are other important skills our children need beside academical skills.
They will need " characters" like : self confident, self respect as well respect to others, Appreciation in simple things and nature, using they creativity and imagination, problem solving skills and not easy to give up .

Above all...our children will grow up so fast. And for the time being I want to enjoy them as my children